This week’s Time Capsule looks at a drunken pony, a sniper and the first black students at Marietta High School.

100 years ago …

In Friday, July 10, 1914 edition of the Marietta Journal and Courier, there was a front page story about a man who was severely shocked when lightning struck his house, tore out a window within six inches of his head as he was lying in bed. The electricity struck his left shoulder and ran down his leg, leaving a badly burned place three inches wide.

A second story that week reported that Lucius Dubignon Clay, who would later become famous as the general in charge of occupied Germany after World War II, was reported as receiving his appointment to West Point from Sen. West who had fulfilled the promise made to Clay’s mother by the late Sen. Bacon.

50 years ago …

Juvenile Court Judge Conley Ingram was reported in the Sunday, July 5, 1964 Marietta Daily Journal as saying that the abandoned baby found in Marietta mentioned in last week’s column was to be put up for adoption in a month if the child’s parents were not located. The infant, named Henry Conley Joiner by the supervisor of the Juvenile Home, was found on the front seat of Richard S. Joiner’s car in June. At first the child was thought to be a baby kidnapped from a Chicago hospital two days after birth, but detectives determined that was not the case.

Acworth city officials were reported in the Monday, July 6, 1964 paper as saying that they knew who had placed a drunken pony in the city jail and were looking for enough evidence to bring the case before a Cobb County Grand Jury. A special police committee of Acworth city councilmen had been urged to “accelerate investigation” of the pony incident and a series of other pranks played recently on Acworth law enforcement officers. Acworth Mayor Mary McCall had also called in the GBI and the Cobb Sheriff’s Office to help obtain evidence against the pranksters.

A second story that day reported that bloodhounds were requested from Cobb Police to help track down a prisoner who escaped from a work detail at Red Top Mountain State Park in Bartow County. The escapee had been imprisoned at the Ellijay prison camp and was believed to be hiding out on the mountain.

In the Tuesday, July 7, 1964 paper it was reported that a group of citizens threatened the Smyrna City Council with legal action if the council denied any responsibility for a drainage problem on San Fernando Drive. The citizens, represented by an attorney, said that water was washing down from a street above them and bringing “beer cans” and other garbage into their yards. The water flow, the attorney said, was caused by the city’s installation of a drainage pipe into a natural drainage ditch, which changed the direction and flow into the backyards of his clients.

An unknown sniper was reported in the Wednesday, July 8, 1964 paper as having fired five shots at Marietta Patrolman Pat W. Paul as he sat in his car at the Reynolds and Wright streets intersection. Paul, who was not hit, was stopped near the intersection’s corner and was making out his daily reports when he heard the windshield crash. He said that he ducked into the seat as three more shots came through the window.

Cobb Democratic Party leaders were reported in the Thursday, July 9, 1964 paper as setting a qualifying period for candidates after voters overwhelmingly approved a change from a single to a multiple commissioner county government in a referendum held the day before. More than 10,000 voters turned out at the polls to pile up a 7,297 to 2,791 victory margin for the governmental change. The first multiple seat commission was to take office in January 1965.

In the Friday, July 10, 1964 paper it was reported that two black students filed applications for transfer to Marietta High School at the beginning of the September school term. Speaking for the Marietta Board of Education, City School Superintendent Henry Kemp confirmed that the applications had been received, but would not reveal the names.

20 years ago …

The storm that caused severe flooding south of Atlanta was reported in the Thursday, July 7, 1994 paper as having dropped more than three inches of rain on Cobb County over the course of four days and more was on the way.

In the following day’s paper, Friday, July 8, 1994, it was reported that the death toll in south Georgia had hit 18 and that divers were searching for bodies in murky floodwaters while rescuers were plucking stranded people out of trees. Bottled water was the most-needed relief item in the flood-stricken counties, according to the Salvation Army’s Cobb unit, which was sending its mobile unit into the area.

Damon Poirier is the Newsroom Administrator for the Marietta Daily Journal.

If you are interested in learning more about the stories that were presented in this week’s column, you can search the newspaper’s digitized microfilm archives online. NewsBank, which hosts the archives for the Marietta Daily Journal, charges a fee for retrieved articles and has various price packages available. If you have any trouble with your username, password or payment options, please contact NewsBank at mariettadaily@newsbank.com.

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